Is it far from working in the "meta universe"? "Face pincher" is nearby [theory of youth Economy] "They all think I 'gnaw old', but in fact, I can make money at home." Qixiaobao, a face pincher from Guangdong, was born in 1999. After graduating from University, she chose flexible employment. Now she can achieve a monthly income of up to 40000 yuan by virtue of "face pinching". Zhou Guangsu, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, said that the vigorous development of the new economy has spawned various new occupations and new forms of employment, "creating unprecedented opportunities for young people". 　　—————————— In the interactive world of virtual reality, people enter the virtual space simulated by computer and parallel to the real world through wearable devices such as headphones and eyepieces... This is the scene described by American science fiction writer Neil Stephenson in his novel avalanche in 1992, and it is also the source of the word "metaverse". Everyone who steps into the meta universe needs the corresponding "virtual avatar" as the basis of identity recognition. Thus, the popularity of the meta universe provided the soil for the birth of "face pinchers" (that is, the creators of virtual avatars, who can "pinch" the desired role shape for players like "clay figurines" - editor's note). They became the first "migrant workers" in the meta universe. "They all think I 'gnaw old', but in fact, I can make money at home." Qixiaobao, a face pincher from Guangdong, was born in 1999. After graduating from University, she chose flexible employment. Now she can achieve a monthly income of up to 40000 yuan by virtue of "face pinching". Zhou Guangsu, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, said that the vigorous development of the new economy has spawned various new occupations and new forms of employment, "creating unprecedented opportunities for young people". "Pinching face" is like "jigsaw puzzle" "Unlike the PGC output (professional output of full-time personnel) of QQ image and game avatar designers, today's face pinchers are UGC (user generated content) production mechanisms." Che bin, soul's head of products, said, "soul's face pinchers show typical economic characteristics of creators, that is, the platform provides modules and tools, and users can use tools to become creators, create spontaneously, express their interests, hobbies, and ideas, and turn them into benefits." Data show that at present, soul, known as the "social metauniverse", has about 80 face pinchers who have settled in the personality mall. As of March 1 this year, the total number of avatars in the personality mall is nearly 30000. From the end of June to November 1, 2021, there were 7764 avatars sold by face pinchers. In the past few months, the Creator with the highest income had a monthly income of more than 50000 yuan. According to Che bin, in reality, some face pinchers are college students, some are office workers, and many are "slash youth" with a variety of work and lifestyle. Ze Bai (a pseudonym) is one of them. At that time, he "suffered a blow to his feelings and career". In order to relieve his emotions and seek resonance, he decided to personally make a avatar that was in line with his current mood. As a leather goods customizer, zebai is confident that he has strong hands-on ability. Later, he found that "I want to be simple". It takes a lot of time and energy to make a good-looking avatar. He was most impressed by the fact that he pinched for almost three days and nights. "During this period, he hardly did anything else, and even slept for twoorthree hours before he was slightly satisfied with his work." "Like a jigsaw puzzle, there are thousands of possibilities." Take soul as an example. Its "super cute face pinching" tool provides creative materials including eyebrow shape, eye shape, eyelid shape, nose shape, headdress, etc. there are hundreds of choices for light hair style, let alone various parameters such as color, position, size, etc. But in zebai's view, this is also the charm of "pinching the face". "For me, it's more convenient to buy finished products or private customization." Wu Nan (a pseudonym), who loves national fashion, not only bought more than 10 beautiful skins in the mobile games she often plays, but also customized a variety of antique avatars for social platforms, "I will change them regularly according to my mood." Che Bin said that more and more young people are willing to pay to create their virtual characters on social platforms. The consumption trend of "generation Z" group released by Suning Institute of Finance mentioned that generation Z (usually refers to the generation born from 1995 to 2009) has the personality characteristics of seeking ideal "human design". Out of the exploration of "who I am" and "who I want to be", many generation Z are keen to try different styles of clothes, or consume products of different brands to experience different lifestyles. Chen Duan, director of the digital economy integration and innovation development center of the Central University of Finance and economics, also pointed out that generation Z prefers consumption and social sharing in the digital world and digital civilization, and pursues unique personality expression and aesthetic experience. According to soul statistics, generation z from the first and second tier cities are the main consumers who buy virtual avatars. Specifically, consumers from the first and second tier cities account for more than 44%, and users aged 18 to 27 account for 50.4%. "The most important test is creativity and inspiration" Today, practice makes perfect, and sometimes it takes only a few minutes to complete a satisfactory work. Every day, in addition to his own work, he would spend several hours pinching his face. When he suddenly had inspiration, he would occasionally put down his work at hand and knead a first draft, and then continue to create after work, which made him feel that his life was more fulfilling and full. "Becoming a face pincher is also a way of life." Wang Lei (a pseudonym), a face pincher and pet beautician, feels the same way. Zebai said that the face pincher "is a good career choice for young people", and the "threshold is not high" to enter the industry. The cost is basically the cost of time. People with art skills may get started faster. Zebai also reminded that don't credulous the so-called training classes. Young people have strong learning ability, and they can communicate more and practice more with friends who like to pinch their faces. For example, face pinching fans often spontaneously hold theme face pinching competitions. Everyone creates theme avatars according to their own ideas and understandings, and then uniformly changes avatars for communication and modification, so as to make their works more perfect and high-quality. However, Cheng Zhuo, the marketing director of Hangzhou Xiangxin Network Technology Co., Ltd., is worried that now only one user's face photo can generate a similar 3D virtual image according to its image characteristics. Will face pinchers be impacted by this? Che bin believes that this will not have much impact on the face pinchers. "Although (the generation products that upload photos to generate virtual images) also support modification, its core is' restoration 'rather than' creation ', which is different from the face pinchers' works that emphasize creativity, creativity and visual aesthetic performance, and meet different needs." In the view of "seven small bags", the most important test of the profession of face pincher is creativity and inspiration. "You must create your own style to stand out." Through observation, zebai found that his fans have a large age span and prefer works that are simple, cute and have a clear sense of lines. "Consumption trend of generation Z" group also mentioned that generation Z has the personality characteristics of advocating high beauty, and they particularly favor those images with cute, girlish and anthropomorphic elements. When he is not busy at work, Wang Lei will spend time creating, researching and creating different avatar styles, and readjusting the works that are not highly recognized after they are removed from the shelves. He found that in soul personality mall, every mature face pincher has his own design style. Some people like "creative head", others are good at "animal head", and he prefers to study all kinds of "faces". In his view, the key of the avatar is the facial features, "sometimes the decoration is not too much", and the shape of the face alone can show a person's character. By searching the entry of "pinching face", the reporter of China Youth Daily · China Youth Network found that on a shopping platform, the unit price ranged from 0.2 yuan to 200 yuan. In soul's personalized mall, avatars are generally divided into three prices, equivalent to about 30 yuan, 50 yuan and 70 yuan. There are also limited sales of "Super Limited" avatars, priced at 14889 to 21899 soul coins (about 1700 to 3000 yuan). "Since the mainstream consumers facing new consumption are the creative generation Z population in adolescence, the product level must comply with the preferences of the target consumer population and continue to iterate. The iterative process also means the market risk in the process of innovation trial and error." Chen Duan said. As an emerging profession, the development of face pinchers is still in its infancy. Both the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of face pinchers and consumers, as well as the rules and mechanisms, need to be improved. Chen Duan predicted that digital virtual human will probably become a new focus of attention and traffic entry in the future. At present, some enterprises and local governments are making a forward-looking layout around the meta universe and are optimistic about the long-term prospects, but they should comprehensively sort out and dynamically monitor various hidden risks faced by enterprises in the process of innovation, so as to prepare for a rainy day. (outlook new era)